156 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



The outward and visible teeth of the male are apparently 

 given as weapons of defence, since they do not occur in the 

 female, which has four back teeth. From their prominent 

 position the teeth of the male must also be used for grasp- 

 ing and levering or pulling steadfast limpets from rocks. 

 They needs must be hard and have strength as well as 

 science at the back of them, for a limpet can resist a pulling 

 force of nearly 2000 times its own weight. The sutures of 

 the jaws of the fish enable it to accommodate its grip to the 

 various sizes of limpets, and to take a fair and square hold, 

 while the lower jaw seems to act as a fulcrum when the 

 leverage is applied. But the exterior jaws and teeth are 

 devoid of interest, compared with the interior set, which 

 form an ideal pulverising apparatus. To those who are 

 versed in ichthyology, these are known as pharyngeal 

 teeth, because they are connected with the pharynx. Such 

 teeth are present in some form or other in all true fish, 

 but usually in a degraded form. In the rainbow and 

 parrot fish they are highly specialised, otherwise the 

 pulverisation of the hard shell of molluscs would be im- 

 possible. The interior of the mouth of certain species of 

 the shark family, given specially to a diet of oysters, is 

 thickly set with a series of uniformly diffused minute teeth, 

 and another fish of these seas has a gizzard composed of an 

 intensely tough material, lined with membrane resembling 

 shark's skin. This fish swallows cockles and such like 

 molluscs whole, and grinds them in its gizzard. 



And the colouring of this wonderful creature ! The 

 semi-transparent dorsal fin, which extends without a break 

 from the back of the head to the tail, is broad and 

 slightly scalloped. It displays an upper edging of radiant 

 blue, a broad band of iridescent pink with greenish opal- 

 like lights, and a narrow streak of the richest emerald 

 green, close along the back. The body is covered with 

 large scales, the colouring of which conveys a general ap- 

 pearance of an elaborate system of slightly elongated 

 hexagons, generally blue outlined with pink, sometimes 

 golden-yellow combined with green ; and the colours flash 



